Under The Black Sun
by Kyler9437
Summary: Percy and his brother Jess are living with their mother in a post apocalyptic world where survival is everything. The two boys are thrown into a life of secrets that their parents were keeping and have to go out and figure out what is going on. Along the way they run into a troubled Eleanor who ran away from her abusive father to make a life for herself. No relation to I Am Legend
1. Chapter 1: These Tears That Burn

Chapter 1: These Tears That Burn

I awoke with a start. My mom was shaking me telling me to get up quickly, she sounded in a near panic.

"Hurry and wake up! Go and wake up Jess and start putting your packs together."

"Why what's going on ?" I slurred as I picked at the sleep in my eyes

"Jess get up, you need to help your brother with the packs" He just mumbled and rolled over.

"JESS!"

He shot up "I'm up, I'm up!"

"Wait didn't we go scavenging yesterday? Why are we going out again today, I thought we got enough supplies to last a few weeks?" I said as I tried to pull my shirt on.

"We did but thats not the problem. I was on the roof making sure It was safe to do my gardening when I saw some cars coming and they looked like raiders."

"Are you sure it was raiders? It could be just a caravan going through."

"I would rather be safe than sorry, and besides sometimes theres not much of a difference between the two. How did you think the caravans got all that stuff hmm?"

I decided to look out the window to see for myself. I could see the dust cloud the cars were leaving behind. There wasn't enough cars for it to be the caravans so it was probably raiders.

"Does that mean we have to leave this house mom?" Jess said as he looks out the window to.

"I don't want to leave, I just started to like this house after the last time we had to move."

"I'm sorry Jess, I know you don't want to leave but we have to, now go and make sure you have plenty of food in your pack."

"Percy, make sure you have plenty of supplies because its a long ways till you can fill up again. Jess stop dragging your feet I want to be out of here before they get here."

Jess is four years younger than I am and is not a morning person. He for some reason is not use to the early mornings and long days even though we have been doing it our whole lives. Much like everyone else now.

"Jess, go make sure our canteens are full, and load up some extra jugs. When you are done with that pour the water from the reserve out, we want to make sure that the raiders can get as little as possible from this place."

Sometimes I underestimate how resourceful my mom is. Her and my dad must have made quite the team way back when.

I took some time to look at this house and all it had. The pealing flower print wallpaper to the stained and ripped up carpet. I didn't like this house very much, it was a small one bedroom house that didn't even have a bathroom. Jess and I had to sleep on the floor with pilled up blankets as bedding. So far I don't think I will miss this house too much.

"Mom mom, they are here. They are almost to the hill!"

She swore under her breath. "I thought we had more time. Percy come here. Look at me. Take Jess through the back door and down the hill. Do you still have that compass your father made for you?" I nodded.

"Good good, now when you get to the bottom of the hill head north until you get to a road, that should take about a day. When you get to the road follow it north east, in about two days you should arrive at a town named Grokery. Ask around for a man named Lee and have him tell you everything he knows about Tonsofoo. Do everything he tells you to and you will be fine."

"Wait why are you telling me all this, aren't you coming with us?"

She shook her head, I could see tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. "No, I have to stop these men, they are after something very important and I have to stop them from getting it. Now Percy this is where you have to be brave for me, can you do that?"

I was starting to get confused and my head started to spin but I managed to nod my head.

"Thats my boy. Ok now I want you to take this key to Tonsofoo and find a man named Kirk. He has the box that this key goes to. I want you to steal that box from him, I don't care how you do it just make sure you get that box. Then take the box out of town and make sure no one sees you leave with it then open it. Take everything out of it, then bury the box so no one will find it. Then I need you to read the papers that are inside and I promise you everything will make sense."

"But mom I don't understand, why can't you come with us? We need you, I need you."

She was crying now, I tried not to but after all the stuff she just told me it was hard not to.

"I just can't sweety I can't. I wish I could but I can't. Now look me in the eyes, both of you. I love you both so very much and I promise this will all make sense soon. Now hurry up and get going I don't want you two to be here when He shows up."

I nodded, trying to keep from crying for Jess. I nudged him out the door and as I was about to close it I heard the front door get kicked in. I turned around to see and tall lean man with a red mohawk and crude armor standing in the doorway. With his deep cool voice he said, "Well well well, what do we have here? Stacy, it really has been too long."

"Not long enough in my opinion," she said as she tried to keep her voice as cool as his but it cracked.

"Always with the unpleasantries with you. Are you still mad about what I did to your hubby?"

She spit in his eye, he just stands there blinking for a little bit then reaches up and wiped the spittle from his eye.

"Now now, manners Stacy. You don't want to end up like poor little Jacky now do we? Now do me a favor and tell me where that precious key of yours is."

"Over my dead body!" she cried out.

"Well that can be arranged."

I looked down at the key she gave me and looked up at Jess and mouthed "We need to get out of here now." We silently climbed down the hill but when we were halfway down I hear the man scream in pain.

"Oh now you are really going to pay for that one Stacy, how would you like to see Jack again, ya would you like that? Good." Then a gunshot went off and the man laughed.

"MOMMY!" I had the grab Jess around the chest to keep him from running back up the hill. half crying I managed to get out "No Jess, its too late. We have to get going before they find us."

We ran the rest of the day and some into the night, then we made camp and set up a campfire.

Jess made it look like he was sleeping but I could hear him weeping. Through the tears I sat there in the moon light staring into the fire and I vowed that I would make That man suffer for everything he has done to my family.


	2. Chapter 2: Two Moons

"ELEANOR GET YOUR LAZY ASS UP NOW!"

I don't understand why he feels the urge to yell so early in the morning. Its not like I was really sleeping anyways, he tends to go into his drunken rages pretty early sometimes and when he does he likes to yell and break things.

"I'm getting up, keep your shirt on!" That comment was sure to get me hit, sure enough here he comes.

In two stride he managed to cross the room and flip over the grubby old mattress I was laying on which threw me to the floor. He reached is ham hand over and grabbed me by my hair. I screamed but he didn't care if he hurt me, that was the only other entertainment he had.

"Ok ok ok, I'm sorry, let go!"

"You need to learn a little respect!"

"Oh you mean how you respect me!?"

With his other hand he swung and hit me across the face, then he threw me into the wall then he stormed back into the other room.

I sat there and cried for a few minutes holding the swollen spot across my cheek and rubbing the spot where my head hit the wall. I really need to learn keep my mouth shut, it serves me no good to open it around him he just hits me for it.

After I waited the appropriate amount of time I left my room grabbed a can of soup for breakfast and started to head out the door when he said,

"Where do you think you are going?"

"To do my chores, isn't that why you had your underwear in a bunch about?" Shut your mouth Elli, shut it now!

"What did you say you little bitch?"

He swung, I ducked. It was a good thing I was in the doorway because he probably hit his hand on it.

I used my pocket knife to open the can and I ate it as I walked around the house to the crops.

The old man might be fat but hes not stupid, he managed to figure out an irrigation system using gravity and some pipes to run rainwater into a hose so we can just turn the nozzle to water the crops. It sure saves time but it is a little boring just walking around with a hose spraying the took about an hour but that it was done I had to go feed and collect the eggs from the chickens, which was my favorite part of the day. It gave me time away from Walter and let me spend time with creatures who didn't want me dead.

When I got to the chicken coop something didn't seem right, I couldn't hear their clatter which was weird because our chickens were noisy. I put my ear to the door, I couldn't hear anything so I opened the door. A massive coyote shot out and ran towards the house. I yelled for Walter to get his gun but by the time he got his fat ass out of the house the dog was already out of range. I bet he could find a way to blame this one one me.

I could hear him huffing all the way over here, so I took the time to check the damage. I looked into the coop and was shocked, blood and feathers everywhere and a hole in the side of the coop. The coyote probably chewed his way in and was just small enough to get in but when he ate all the chickens he couldn't fit any more.

Walter was at the door and he was furious, red faced and fuming. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT I HAD TO DO TO GET THOSE CHICKENS! I PROMISED LEE HALF THE CROPS FOR FIVE CHICKENS NOW THEY ARE ALL DEAD! THIS IS COMING OUT OF YOUR HIDE!"

"And just how is this my fault?!" I knew it.

"If you weren't hiding out in that tree of yours and doing your chores, you probably could have found the weak spot in the coop and fixed it!"

"I checked the whole area before I went off last night, the coyote just chewed his way in there!"

"Thats it, you aren't getting any dinner until you make up for my losses!"

"Thats not fair!"

"Ya well you should have thought of that before you slaked off!"

This is the first time he has gone that far, but its a good thing I'm not going to be sticking around that long. I walked down to my favorite tree, this old dead tree that had big tall branches. It has this little notch that I keep my stuff I don't want him to break or find. I keep my knife, compass, locket, and these special knockout pills I found in an old dog pound not far away. They will come in handy tonight.

I quietly walked back to the house and went to Walters distillery where he makes his liquor. I cracked open the pills and poured the stuff into the big vat. I hope its enough to knock him out but not enough to kill him, I want him to know what happened. I snuck back to my room and waited. It was about night time when he finally left to go get his bottles, I really hope that with the amount he drinks it won't kill him because I have no Idea how much those people used to knockout a dog. After a little bit he came back in and sat in his chair and started to slam them down. After a few shots he got up and staggered to the doorway and gasped,

"What have you done to me!?"

I just sat there smiling until he hit the ground unconscious. I waited a little bit to make sure he was out, then I went around the house collecting all the stuff I would need on the trip the Grokery. When I had everything I need I went out to my tree and grabbed all my stuff and headed down the hill in the direction of the town. Its was nice knowing I never had to see Walters fat sweaty face again.

I walked a while in the moonlight when I saw a campfire in the distance, I slowed my pace and crept along really quiet. It was a boy around my age with jet black hair and freckles around his nose, sitting hugging his knees just staring into the fire. and there was another kid with blond hair laying on his side, both of them looked like they have been crying.


	3. Chapter 3: Where Are You Now

Chapter 3: Where Are You Now

Snap of a twig and I was on my feet, my heart was racing so fast I was sure they could hear it. I couldn't see what made the sound but it was dark and I was staring at the fire all night. I heard it again, this time it was closer.

"Who..who's there?" I stammered.

This girl stepped into the ring of light from the fire, she had long straight black hair and looked like she was my age maybe a little older.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you, I just saw the campfire and thought I would see who it was. Are you alright?"

"What, um ya I'm fine, it's nothing. Do you want to sit down, is warm." I said quickly as I sniffed and wiped my eyes.

I looked at the moon to see what time it was and it was a little past midnight, I must have just started to doze off.

"What are you doing way out here in the dead of night?" I asked her as I moved to get more comfortable.

"I could ask you the same thing, don't you know its not safe to make a fire way out in the open, I could see it from a mile away."

"Ya I guess I didn't think about that, I was in kind of a hurry."

"Why what happened?"

"I..I don't really want to talk about it right now. I didn't catch your name by the way."

"Oh my names Ellie."

"I'm Percy and he's Jess. Are you going to any particular place?"

"Ya, I'm heading to Grokery, I need to talk to a man there."

"Really, so are we. If you want you could tag along until we get there."

"Ya that sounds nice."

"Ok cool, well I guess we should probably get some sleep, its going to be a long walk."

"Ya alright, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

I rolled over, got comfortable again and just stared at the fire until I fell asleep.

We all woke up pretty early, and Jess was a little confused as to who the girl was but I quickly explained. We pulled together different soups that we had and heated them up on the fire. After we all ate we started north to find the road. It was about an hour or two before we found it, now our adventure truly began.

"Percy, I'm tired and my feet hurt, can we take a break?"

"This is the third break today and its not even mid day! Fine but this is the last one for a while."

"Ok, can you tell the story that dad use to tell us when we were little?"

"Ya ok, but you have to keep walking while I tell it, deal?"

"Ok let me just get some water from my pack and then we can start walking again."

A few minutes later he had his fill of water and we were on our way.

"Ok dad always told it like this, About 300 years ago our world was a much different. It was divided into counties and people pretty much got along. Millions of people getting along to further the greater good. Until a country named Russia, they for some reason didn't like how another country, The United States of America were running their people so they started a war that started to spin out of control and involved almost every country in the world, they called the The Last World War. They say that the war lasted for 5 years and finally ended in a horrific exchange of nuclear warfare. The two rivaling countries have been stockpiling these weapons since the last time they fought. When the bombs were launched, they carpeted the earth and blacked out the sun until it was over. When the smoke cleared humans were nearly wiped out of existence. Patches of survivors started to try to colonize where they could but the radiation from the bombs was so great it made it nearly impossible to survive, But people did and they started to move into the ruined cities. Even after all that has happened Man still fights each other for little stuff like fresh water and food.

After I finished the story we walked in silence for a while, then Ellie said,

"Thats horrible, didn't they think how it would affect everything, because of them we now have to worry about if we will survive the day!"

"They were just selfish and too into their war to think about how it would affect people."

"Ya, it just makes me mad that because of them I'm living day to day when I could be living in a house with running water and a reliable roof over my head."

For some reason telling the story this time, it really hit me for the first time how real it all is, before it was just a story my dad told me when I couldn't sleep at night. After all that happened yesterday everything has been thrown into perspective.

We walked all day while not really talking much. The walk was long and boring with nothing to look at but dust and burnt trees. We walked until night time and Ellie taught us how to properly build a fire without making a burning beacon. I found some beans in my pack and Ellie had some chilli in hers so we cooked them up and ate and chatted until the pot was empty. We all said our goodnights and settled into the dust and fell asleep.

When I woke up it was still dark but I could tell the sun was about to come up. Everybody else was still asleep so I decided I would start on breakfast. I Shuffled through my pack looking for something that sounded good, then I found the key and just looked at it for a while, I sat back and just stared at it. My life has been ruined all because of this little key. I undid the chain that went through the key and put it around my neck and tucked it under my shirt. I found some peaches in my pack and that sounded good enough and it didn't need to be heated up either. I dished it up into three separate bowls and woke them up for breakfast. Waking Jess up was a chore as usual and it was a little weird waking Ellie up because she flinched when I did it.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Ya ya, I'm fine. What's for breakfast?" She said quickly and sounded like she really wanted to change the subject.

"I found some peaches in my pack, something sweet sounded like a nice way to start the day."

"I agree." She said with a smile.

I passed them their bowls and as I was eating I couldn't help but notice how stunning Ellie was. Her hair was this glossy black and these dark blue eyes that looked like you were getting x-rayed when she looked at you. Her smile made her whole persona light up. When she wasn't smiling she looked like she was trying to forget something. I guess thats probably how I look most of the time now.

When we finished eating we packed up our stuff and put out the embers. When we got back on the road it took us about 4 hours to finally get to Grokery, It was weird being in a town with so many people. Mom never took us to any of the town so this was me and Jess' first time and it was a little overwhelming. Ellie said that there was a bar that had some rooms for rent and that they were pretty cheap so we decided to go there first. The bar was called The Rusty Bucket and it had a big rusted out bucket hanging over the door. We walked in and asked the bartender if we could rent out one of his rooms for the night.

"Sure, but its not free. How do you plan on paying for it?" He said in a gruff voice.

The bartender was this huge man with this big shaggy beard and thick hairy arms. He had a lot of rough jagged scars all over and looked like he could take on half the bar with his bare hands.

I was a little intimidated by him, "We don't really have anything valuable enough to trade, do you think we could work off our rooms?" I said in a shaky voice.

"Ya, that sounds fine. After the bar closes you kids come in and sweep the floors, clean the tables and do the dishes. You can do this every night you want to stay here and we will be fine."

"Ok, that sounds like a fair deal."

We shook hands, and he said, "If you kids feel like picking a room and putting your stuff in it, thats fine. I will make sure no one takes it."

"Thanks mister."

"The names Burt by the way."

"Ok, thanks Burt, I'm Percy, and this is Jess and Ellie."

"Nice to meet you kids, Why don't you go put your stuff in a room and go out and explore the town until its closing time."

"Ok thanks, oh by the way, do you know where I can find a man named Lee."

"Ya, he owns a little store on the other side of town, it has a big green sign above the door."

"Ok, thanks Burt, I guess we will see you tonight."

We headed up to find a good room, we found one with two beds and a couch, so we put our stuff in and left to find Lee.


	4. Chapter 4: Lost In Paradise

Chapter 4: Lost In Paradise

We left the bar and decided to explore the town while we worked our way down the streets. The roads we made with cracked and crooked stones in some spots and just dirt in others. Run down shacks and buildings with faded paint and decomposing walls lined the roads. People begged on the street and others just walked past you without looking up as if they were in a hurry and didn't want to be bothered. Kids with dirty faces played in the streets, I wish I could play with them but after all that has happened I no longer feel much like a kid any more.

We walked past stores with meats hanging from hooks or drooping off counters with flies buzzing around them. Some stores had odd items for sale or trade, we even walked past a bakery with fresh bread that almost masked the smell of the town.

After about an hour of looking we found Lee's store with the big green sign over it that said "Grocery's", we walked in a met a thin grey haired man with broken glasses hanging off the end of his nose. He looked up at us and gave us a big toothy grin and said with a raspy voice, "Well if it isn't Ellie, how are you doing today? How are the chickens your dad bought last time?"

"They got eaten by a coyote a few days ago actually." She said in a nervous tone.

"Well thats a bummer, I hope your dad knows hes not getting a refund if thats what you are here about."

"Um no I'm not here about that, but I'm sure he will be soon. I'm here to find Jane, have you seen her?"

All of a sudden his grin disappeared and was replace with a look of condolence. "Oh Ellie I'm so sorry but Jane is dead. There was group of raiders that attacked the town a week ago, they robbed a few shops and she was shot during one of the robberies. I tried to save her but by the time I got there she had lost too much blood for me to do anything. I'm sorry I couldn't have done more. I know how you two were close." He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

She looked like she just got sucker punched but was trying to hide it, she finally said, "It wasn't your fault, you did what you could. Percy, I'm going to go on a little walk. I will meet you back at the room tonight." She sounded like she was trying to fight back the tears but was losing.

I nodded and she walked out the door. I turned to Lee not quite sure how to ask him about Tonsofoo after what had just happened. "Um…. I need to know everything about a town by the name of Tonsofoo, do you know anything about it?" I said in a really awkward tone.

"What is a kid doing asking question about a place like that?!" He said in a very shocked and stern voice.

I think my question really shocked him after what just happened. "There's something I need to do there. Do you know anything about it or not."

"Ok kid, first of all Tonsofoo is not a town. Its the HQ of the Black Suns. And second of all I'm not going to tell you anything with that tone of yours."

"I'm sorry, its just that a lot has happened the past few days and I'm still trying to process it. Can you please tell me about it?"

"Alright, only if you do me a little favor first. This place is still a mess after the raider attack last week. So if you help me clean it I will tell you all I know about Tonsofoo, even though that's no place for kids."

I looked around, the store wasn't that messy. I don't even think it was affected by the raid. It just looked like his mess but I agreed anyways.

He gave me and Jess a section to start working on. He sat on the counter and said, "First thing, you have to know a little bit about the Black Suns. They are the current "government" that took over a few years back, but there really isn't much government about them. They are pretty much a bunch of mercenaries and thugs that formed one group lead by a guy named Kirk. He is a guy that is really good with his words and making people do what he wants. He has set up a tax system so that any established settlement has to give them a percentage of their commodity, whether it be crops or resources pulled from a mine. In return they offer "protection" from raiders and other groups that would want the resources for themselves, but as you can see their protection program doesn't work so well. Now onto their HQ, it's this huge building that back before the war was called a super mall. They were huge stores that people spent all day shopping in but now it is being used as a super fort by the Black Suns. Its about a day, day and half walk east from here. Getting in isn't that hard but getting out is the problem. They let anyone in but there is a huge screening process to get out, just to make sure you didn't steal anything that could help the Patriots Hand."

"Who are they?" I said still trying to process what he said about not getting out.

"They are a group of rebels that are trying to take down the Black Suns, they believe that the people have the right to rule themselves and should have a say in what happens, much like how things were before the war, but some people believe that if it worked so great back then we wouldn't be where we are today. I think that they are camped out at an old airport four days north from here."

After he told us all that he could tell us we finished cleaning his store. We thanked him and left for the bar, It was already starting to get dark.

"Who do you think Jane is?" Jess asked as we were walking down the street.

"I'm not sure but I don't think we should ask until she is ready to talk about it."

"You aren't curious about her?"

"I am I just don't want to get nosy and start asking questions that she doesn't want to answer."

"Alright, sorry I asked"

We walked in silence until we got to the bar. When we walked in it was almost empty and Burt said we could start cleaning now.

Jess started doing the dishes while Ellie and I started on the tables and floor. I started to clean off some of the tables and put the glasses in a box when Ellie came up to me and said, "I'm sorry I ran off today. It hit me pretty hard to find out Jane died."

"Who was she?" I tried to have sympathy in my voice without sounding too curious.

"She was my mothers sister, I came here to ask if I could stay with her for a little bit while I figured out what to do next."

"What do you mean what to do next? What happened?" Again trying to keep the curiosity out of my voice.

"If I tell you what happened to me, will you tell me what happened to you?" I nodded my head.

"Ok, I was around six when my dad died and my mom was scared for us because we lived out in the middle of nowhere. So one day my mom met a guy named Walter. He was very smart and resourceful and she asked him if he would be willing to help protect us in exchange for food and a place to live. He agreed but turned out he was a nasty drunk and was very abusive, and yet my mom stuck with him. He forced himself on her all the time and beat her daily , and she still stuck with him. He was very smart about plumbing and how things work, he even invented irrigation systems for our crops and kept us safe, he even fended off 3 raider attacks that probably would have killed us if he wasn't there. He made his own alcohol still so he was pretty much always drunk. Then one day he hit the bottles a little hard and my mom accidentally broke his still while cleaning it and he went out of control and beat her to death right in front of me. I couldn't do anything to stop him." She had to stop for a few minutes because she started to cry. I put my arm around her and tried to comfort her as much as I could.

"You don't have to tell me any more if you don't want to."

"No, I promised I would tell you everything and I will." She took few deep breaths and continued.

"After my mother died it was just me and Walter for about two years. He beat me for every little mistake I made until finally I couldn't take it anymore, so one day I took these tranquilizer pills I found at an old pound and put them in his booze. When he sat down to have his drinks at night, the tranqs knocked him out cold and I ran away from home, and thats the night I found you and Jess."

We kind of sat there for a little bit and then I said, "Wow, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Now my story doesn't sound nearly as bad as that.

"But you still have to tell me, and why you had to talk to Lee." She didn't bother keeping the curiosity out of her voice.

"Ok fair is fair. My mom and my dad were mercenaries way back when, but the the kind that didn't do it for the money, they did it to help others. They did jobs for cheap and for people who really needed the help. I guess one day they decided to put all that behind them and start a family, so my dad found this really nice house out near the Rocky Mountains. They had me and they had Jess four years later. Then one day raiders attacked and dragged my dad off and killed him. My mom took us away from the Rockies and into the hills. We moved often and life was hard because we had to scavenge what we could. We found a little house at the top of a steep hill and we lived there for a few months thinking that it would be safe enough. Then one day raiders came and killed our mom. Before she died she gave me a key and told me to go talk to Lee in Grokery and ask him about Tonsofoo. Now me and Jess have to break into Tonsofoo and steal a box from the leader of the Black Suns."

She just kind of sat there staring at me, then she said, "Well if we are going to be doing that we need a plan."

"Wait what do you mean we?!"

"Well my aunt is dead so I can't stay with her and if I stay here for too long Walter is bound to find me and I'm sure he won't be too happy about me drugging him, so I'm going to go with you guys."

I just sat there staring at her, then I said, "Are you sure? Its going to be very dangerous and to be honest I don't know how we are going to get that box."

"Yes I'm sure. I have nothing here so I might as well go with you guys, and besides if Walter taught me one thing its how to get stuff done, but I think that we should talk about it tomorrow. I think I'm ready for bed right now."

I agreed with her and we finished our job and went up to the room. I gave the two beds to Ellie and Jess and I took the couch. We said our goodnights and fell asleep.


End file.
